The Secret to Good Health

Hello, Everyone,

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While writing another article (for MDLinx’s “Women in Medicine” column), I came across a thought-provoking one from the American Heart Association News:

(It is actually EIGHT healthy behaviors now, as I’ll describe below.)

But this is an issue I’ve worked on and puzzled about nearly my entire clinical and professional career: why is it so hard to do what we know we should be doing when it comes to good health?

Part of it is knowing what to do, to be sure, and there is a lot of confusing information out there to sift through. But some things, like getting enough exercise on a regular basis, sleeping well, and eating well, are universally established by now. And yet. Even I struggle to stay on top.

As the American Heart Association (AHA) article mentions, our lives are so busy and hectic nowadays, with so many responsibilities to juggle. So maybe the real “secret” to good health is actually just finding the time to take care of ourselves and our health!

I find that, in order to do what I know is healthy for me, I have to schedule it and make it a habit. So I have scheduled times that I go to the Y to do my workouts (I block off my calendar for these), and I have a habit of staying in motion throughout the day—walking the dogs, doing housework, getting up from my desk every 30 minutes, etc.

I’ll write more on this in the future, but for now, here are those 8 healthy habits I mentioned before—what the AHA calls “Life’s Essential 8”:

Best wishes for good health—or, given that today is St. Patrick’s Day:

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